Generic interrelationships within the spionidae (Annelida: Polychaeta)

The phylogenetic relationships of spionid genera are estimated from parsimony analyses of morphological characters, with Trochochaetidae, Poecilochaetidae and Uncispionidae as outgroups. A first analysis of currently recognised genera proved inconclusive and even exclusion of six of the most polymorphic genera resulted in 13 305 equally parsimonious trees and a fully collapsed consensus tree. A second analysis using only the type species of each genus, yielded four equally parsimonious trees; reduced to two after successive weighting. The topologies of these two trees indicated division of the family into four main groups: (1) Aonidella and Xandaros; (2) Prionospio (sensu lato)-complex, Laonice, Spiophanes and Aonides; (3) a large assemblage of genera, including Polydora-(sensu lato), Scolelepis, Malacoceros and Spio; (4) Atherospio, Pseudatherospio and Pygospiopsis. Earlier literature classifications of the group are evaluated and compared with the new results. (C) 1997 The Linnean Society of London.